When our son was 10 (he's 12 now) we booked with a private company to go to sting ray city & 2 snorkeling stops. He never snorkeled before and he is now a die hard convert. I would not go with the ship's excursion because the group is way too big and we got a better price too on our own. When he was 5 we took in the turtle tour & it was o.k. The turtle tour is quite short so on the way back we had our driver stop at 7 mile beach and we spent the rest of the day there playing in the water. It was easy to catch a shuttle back to the tender spot.

my children are 23, 19,17 and 9 (he just turned 9) They ALLLLLLL enjoyed the bobsledding in ocho rios.... only 5 minutes by tour bus from ship. We found it was less expensive to book the sky explorer chair lift ride to the top of mystic mountain. up there-- there is a pool, water slide, restaurant and bar included in the price of the chair lift. then at top you can purchase rides on the bobsled or zip lining. i think 5 rides on the bobsled was $40.... much cheaper than the cruise ship and also i was afraid if i pre purchased it one or 2 may chicken out. they are still talking about this excursion. grand cayman we met friends who took us to 7 mile beach --great time. i heard the sting ray thing was great but that wasn't for us. have a great time we just got back yesterday.

The private company we used was www.islandmarketing.com for the Stingray city and 2 stop snorkeling tour on Cayman. The crew was great, we had a nice boat, personal attention and small tour. The only tiny negative was you had to take it on yourself to get to their office about 4 - 6 blocks from the tender area on shore (an easy walk). There is no there to meet you on shore from island marketing.
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